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Shankly: the hero who let me down

One was a true great of British football as Liverpool manager, the other a tenacious striker who helped to turn Anfields dreams into reality. But, in this exclusive extract from his frank new autobiography, Ian St John reveals that the ruthless side to Bill Shankly was to sour their relationship for ever

When Liverpool beat Everton 5-0 on the way to our second league title under Bill Shankly in 1966, we played so well that it seemed we could do anything. We were not so much a football club as an empire, and I lived at the heart of it, the man who scored the goal that won Liverpool their first FA Cup.

Shankly likened me to one of the best middleweights, quick and hard, and for an old fighting man that was another reason to believe in a future without bounds. In all of that, I never imagined the situation that unfolded in the pre-match lobby at Newcastle United in the autumn of 1969. Well, maybe that’s not quite true. I always knew I would have to play out the scene one day, because it is one that no player can avoid for ever, but I assumed the circumstances would be